Shakhtar Donetsk need a miracle against Barcelona

Shakhtar Donetsk's Fernandinho has stated that it will be very difficult for the Ukrainian side to end Barcelona's Champions League adventure at the Donbass Arena on Tuesday evening.

Barca won the first match at Camp Nou 5-1 and are sitting in pole position to reach the semi-finals, forcing Fernandinho to admit to fifa.com that the task facing his side is verging on the impossible.

The Brazilian said: "Eliminating Barcelona is extremely difficult. We need to beat them 4-0 and I don’t even know who were the last team to do that. But we’re going to try to pick up a win at the very least.

"Even if we don’t manage to knock them out, we’re going to at least try and exit the Champions League with a win in front of our home fans. That would give them something to be pleased about. It’s about playing for Shakhtar’s pride."

Fernandinho hopes that the weekend visit to the Santiago Bernabeu to face rivals Real Madrid may force the Blaugrana to lose focus.

"We need a real miracle," he added, "but I’ve not given up hope. They’ve got an important game against Real Madrid next weekend and, who knows, they might rest a few players which would work in our favour."

Lionel Messi created 47 goals for Barcelona

The game against Almeria this weekend confirmed Barcelona’s eight point lead over rival Real Madrid before the El Clasico. What was notable in that game was that Lionel Messi scored his 46th and 47th goals for this season.

47 goals in one season in all competitions is a record that was achieved by the Brazilian Ronaldo back in 1996/1997 – which was equaled by the little Messiah already last season.

This season Messi has a minimum of nine games to become the outright leader in top goal scorers.

Leo Messi has scored 29 goals in La Liga, seven in Copa del Rey, eight in UEFA Champions League and three in the Spanish Super Cup. He also scored four hat-tricks against Sevilla (Spanish Super Cup), Almeria (league), Betis (cup) and Atletico Madrid (league).

Last season, Messi also managed to equal Ronaldo record from the same year of scoring 34 league goals for the club. This season, Argentina’s little man is only five goals short of repeating that feat.

Messi has become the top scorer for Barca in European competitions with 33 goals.

Pep Guardiola has rightly asserted that Messi is the best player he had ever seen after Barca won the 2009 UEFA Super Cup.

Messi is on a contract with Barcelona with a buy-out clause of €250 million and he make around €9.5 million a year. His current contract runs until 2016.

10/11 La Liga Top Scorer’s Battle 

The El Clasico will be a chance for Barca to make it six consecutive wins in a row against the capital club. It will also be a face-to-face for the league’s two scorers to get their noses in front to become the top scorer. Messi’s 29 goals this season is matched by the Portuguese ace Cristiano Ronaldo.

Barcelona and Manchester United reach Champions semis

Barcelona and Manchester United moved a step closer to a rematch of the 2009 Champions League final yesterday, as both clubs earned victories to extend their first-leg advantage and reach the semis.

Lionel Messi scored his club-record 48th goal of the season in the 43rd minute to give Barcelona a 1-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk and secure a comfortable 6-1 aggregate victory that had never looked in doubt.

There was more drama at Old Trafford, where Park Ji-sung secured a 2-1 win for United over 10-man Chelsea, scoring the winner less than a minute after second-half substitute Didier Drogba had equalised for the London club in the 77th.

Javier Hernandez scored the opener in the 43rd, as United advanced 3-1 on aggregate.

"I think we played very, very well against a very, very good team," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "Chelsea played a big part in that game today. I thought we were the better team on the night. In a team game we had some fantastic performances, Park, Chicharito (Hernandez), all over, no one let us down."

Barcelona are now looking at a likely semi-final against arch-rival Real Madrid, which hold a 4-0 edge over Tottenham going into the second leg of their quarter-final today.

United will face the winner of Schalke and defending champion Inter Milan, with the German club having won the first leg 5-2 in Italy.

No rest for the stars

Barcelona, who beat United 2-0 in the final two years ago, only needed to avoid an unlikely collapse in Ukraine following their 5-1 rout in the first leg. But coach Pep Guardiola still opted against giving stars like Messi, Xavi and David Villa a rest despite upcoming games against Madrid in both the league and Copa del Rey final.

While Shakthar came out attacking from the start, Barcelona soaked up the pressure and repeatedly threatened on counter-attacks. Messi provided the breakthrough in the 43rd when he received a pass from Dani Alves before holding off a defender in the box and slotting the ball past Pyatov for his ninth goal in 10 matches in the competition this season.